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News
Idaho’s Proposed Broadband Grant Cares More About Protecting Monopolies Than Expanding High-Quality Connectivity
As states are considering whether and how to use federal CARES Act funding to improve Internet access, Idaho is poised to enact counter-productive limits on who can use that money by excluding community-owned solutions.
Next Week, Learn About Financing Community Broadband With New Market Tax Credits
As part of its Lunch and Learn series, the Community Broadband Action Network (CBAN) is hosting a webinar next week on New Market Tax Credits. The webinar, scheduled for Tuesday, June 23 at 12 p.m. central, will explore how communities can use the tax credits to help fund and deploy broadband networks.
Maine's Proposed Bond Issue Offers Significant New Funding for Internet Infrastructure
In less than a month Maine will hold a Special Referendum election which includes a measure with significant ramifications for Internet access in the state. On July 14, Mainers will be asked to vote Yes or No on Question 1, a $15 million Internet Infrastructure Bond Issue designed to bring high-speed service to the approximately 85,000 households in unserved or underserved areas. The $15 million in general obligation bonds would join $30 million in matching federal, private, and local funds and go to ConnectME to provide funding for broadband projects with an emphasis on unserved or underserved areas.
Want to Support Digital Equity? NDIA Is Hiring a Research and Policy Director
The National Digital Inclusion Alliance (NDIA) is looking for a new Research and Policy Director to help raise awareness of digital equity issues and support digital inclusion practitioners across the country.
For Communities at a Crossroads, Chicopee’s Municipal Fiber Network Shows the Path to Success
Chicopee, Massachusetts, Ward 1 City Councilor Joel McAuliffe wrote an editorial recently that is well worth reading.
WhipCity Fiber Charges Forward in Westfield and Massachusetts Despite Pandemic
Westfield Gas+Electric (WG+E) started its broadband division WhipCity Fiber and the buildout of their network five years ago.
Unbelievably High Customer Satisfaction Helps FairlawnGig Grow Local Economy
While large Internet service providers routinely face some of the lowest customer satisfaction rates in the country, municipal broadband networks, like FairlawnGig in Fairlawn, Ohio, have set themselves a
Community Broadband Media Roundup - June 8
Iowa
Iowa receives $26.2 million in emergency education relief to expand broadband access, Discover Muscatine
Minnesota
Cambridge City Manager is Case Study of Willful Muni Broadband Ignorance
I have been tracking from afar local grassroots efforts in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to start a municipal broadband network for years. I've visited them locally and spoken to various people from citizens to elected officials about the different options. The following are my observations. I'm not trying to channel their thoughts on how to move forward.
Frontier Backs Down Slightly on Challenges to RDOF Eligible Areas
Over the weekend, Frontier filed comments with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announcing that it would “welcome the inclusion” of the census blocks where it claims to newly offer broadband service into the upcoming Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF).
Community Broadband Media Roundup - May 25
Colorado
Little-known Internet network plans Western Colorado expansion to link students, nonprofits to supercomputers by Tamara Chuang, Colorado Sun
Louisiana
OzarksGo and Other Electric Co-ops Adapt to the Realities of Covid-19 With Wi-Fi Hotspots
Across the country, more people than ever are working and learning from home, making a quality Internet connection vital for everyone in every locality during the Covid-19 pandemic. For Americans in inadequately connected areas — rural and urban — adapting to a more isolated and remote learning and working lifestyle proves extremely difficult when lacking a reliable Internet connection.
Cooperatives Continue to Grow Rural Fiber Networks in Updated Report, Cooperatives Fiberize Rural America
The fourth edition of our report, Cooperatives Fiberize Rural America: A Trusted Model for the Internet Age, reveals the steady growth of cooperative fiber since we originally released the report in 2017. In the report, we present rural telephone and electric cooperatives as a proven model to connect rural communities across the country with high-quality Internet access. This version updates the maps and analysis in the report with the most recent federal data.
